The present invention relates to the pouring and preparation of concrete slabs. More specifically, the invention concerns a device for protecting a concrete slab during an adjacent pour.
The construction of concrete slabs for driveways, sidewalks and the like, is well known. In a typical construction, temporary forms are used to define the area into which the concrete is to be poured. The forms serve to contain the concrete mixture while it hardens and during subsequent treatment. When a large slab is to be poured, it is common to divide the slab into successive pours, due to the nature of the concrete material and the manpower available at the jobsite to complete the pour.
In some cases, the temporary forms, which are often in the form of wooden planks, are used to divide a larger area into distinct smaller regions. In other cases, a permanent screed rail can separate adjacent smaller regions for successive pours.
After a slab, whether large or small, has been poured, it must be physically treated or finished. This finishing can include floating and troweling to ensure a level concrete surface. For smaller slabs, such as a sidewalk, a hand trowel can be sufficient to level the poured surface or provide other finish treatments. For larger slabs, such as a driveway, a long-handled trowel can be used to perform the same function.
When a typical driveway is being constructed, a first slab is poured and finished, and before that first slab has dried an adjacent slab is poured and finished. Successive slabs are poured and treated as quickly as the available manpower permits. One difficulty that is encountered with this approach is that during the leveling process the trowel will frequently intrude onto a previously poured and finished slab. This intrusion can disrupt the surface of the previously poured slab, requiring re-finishing or leading to an undesirable surface defect in the slab.
This difficulty can be particularly problematic where the poured concrete slab is intended to have a decorative quality. In addition, the surface defect can be a starting point for more serious erosion of the slab. Consequently, there is a need for some means for protecting one poured surface from disruption by the pouring and treatment of an adjacent surface.